This is "bridge week."
The week that bridges the end of summer and the beginning of another school year.
In six days kids will be back at school.
We have a freshman this year.
High school.
HIGH SCHOOL!
We have a 4th grader this year.
Last year of elementary school.
LAST YEAR!
I know for many the week of "bridge crossing" is a busy one, trying to cram in as much of what's left of summer as possible before the routine of school kicks in again.
"Bridge crossing" at our house is quiet.
I have home-bodies, remember?
They cherish this time to just "be."
To play with friends...to hang out...to stay up late...to sleep in even later.
Don't get me wrong, though...it's not as though we aren't busy.
Parker has football practice every day and he had freshman orientation earlier this week. Faith has piano lessons. There's school open houses tonight along with another orientation for students and parents. There are haircuts to be had (and let me tell you...there's LOTS of hair to be cut), last minute school shopping to get done and hard-to-find jean sizes to track down.
But we're not jam-packing our schedules.
We're crossing the bridge at a slow and steady pace...although too slow for Faith who REALLY wants school to start!
Next week I'll give them over to another year of school. Part of me will breath a little sigh that we are back into a "routine" again. But most of me will be watching and waiting for that bus to arrive at 3:15 in the afternoons when Faith is once again returned to me after a busy and learning-filled day. Then I'll wait again for that 5:30 afternoon time when Parker is returned to me from his busy, learning-filled and football-playing day.
Soon our dinner conversations will change to hearing about school friends, new friends, teachers and exciting (and maybe not-so-exciting) things that happened throughout their days. Evenings will be homework-filled, with Scott taking everything math and science related and me taking everything reading, writing and spelling related.
Ah, yes...the busyness of another school year is just on the other side of the bridge.
But for the next six days...we're just gonna chill.
Wishing you a peaceFULLYsimple day.
peace
jeanine
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
BAKING COOKIES
I don't even have to look at the calendar to know we're over half-way through August and school is less than two weeks away. All I have to do is listen and I hear these words:
"I don't know what to dooooooooooooo."
Yep...end of summer boredom.
I think it happens to almost every kid at some point in their life.
So today after many attempts to play with friends who were either gone, too hot (it's a warm and humid day today) or grounded, Faith asked,
"Mom...do we have the ingredients to make cookies?"
Me: "Yep. Chocolate chip?"
Faith: "Yep."
Me: "Let's do it!"
So while I sat at the counter and gave instructions, Faith made the cookies.
At one point she was concentrating very hard on scooping the flour mixture out of one bowl into the butter/sugar/egg bowl spinning on the electric mixer. She was so focused on making sure the flour ended up IN the bowl...and the expression on her face was a combination of concentration and sweetness. She had some glitter on her cheeks, too, from an art project we had been working on earlier in the afternoon.
It was this expression and glittery little face that brought tears to my eyes.
(Yes...I get tears in my eyes watching my little girl make cookies.)
You see, I'm one that has a very difficult time letting other people do things that I typically do on my own. If it's quicker to do it myself, then that's how I do it. It's a nasty little habit that I'm working on breaking...but that's probably a different blog topic. Anyway, I remember being nine years old and wanting to do things myself...so I sat back, watched and called out cooking-baking instruction from my stool on the other side of the kitchen counter.
And there was a mess.
Faith's depth-perception isn't quite like everyone else.
So flour and sugar ended up missing the measuring cups...so she scooped up some more and eventually the measuring cups were filled, leveled off and dumped into the bowl.
Pouring vanilla into a teaspoon is difficult, too, since it's hard to tell when the teaspoon is actually full to the brim. So our cookies ended up with a little more vanilla than the recipe called for.
When it came time for the above mentioned scooping flour into the butter/sugar/egg bowl on the mixer that required so much concentration...to make sure it all got IN the bowl and not accidentally on the counter, that's when the cooking-making tears welled up in my eyes.
These tears were not ones of sadness over the spills and messes. Instead they were tears of joy in watching my sweet girl learn and do the simple task of making cookies...which we were told as a baby she would probably not have the ability to do.
Eventually the chocolate chips got mixed in, we ate more raw cookie dough than we should have and some of the dough actually made it onto the pan and into the oven.
The cookies are done now.
And you know what?
They. are. delicious!
Best chocolate chip cookies I've had in a long time.
I think it's because they were made by a glitter-faced little nine-year old who is way sweeter than the sugar that got spilled on the counter :)
Wishing you a peaceFULLYsimple day.
peace.
jeanine
"I don't know what to dooooooooooooo."
Yep...end of summer boredom.
I think it happens to almost every kid at some point in their life.
So today after many attempts to play with friends who were either gone, too hot (it's a warm and humid day today) or grounded, Faith asked,
"Mom...do we have the ingredients to make cookies?"
Me: "Yep. Chocolate chip?"
Faith: "Yep."
Me: "Let's do it!"
So while I sat at the counter and gave instructions, Faith made the cookies.
At one point she was concentrating very hard on scooping the flour mixture out of one bowl into the butter/sugar/egg bowl spinning on the electric mixer. She was so focused on making sure the flour ended up IN the bowl...and the expression on her face was a combination of concentration and sweetness. She had some glitter on her cheeks, too, from an art project we had been working on earlier in the afternoon.
It was this expression and glittery little face that brought tears to my eyes.
(Yes...I get tears in my eyes watching my little girl make cookies.)
You see, I'm one that has a very difficult time letting other people do things that I typically do on my own. If it's quicker to do it myself, then that's how I do it. It's a nasty little habit that I'm working on breaking...but that's probably a different blog topic. Anyway, I remember being nine years old and wanting to do things myself...so I sat back, watched and called out cooking-baking instruction from my stool on the other side of the kitchen counter.
And there was a mess.
Faith's depth-perception isn't quite like everyone else.
So flour and sugar ended up missing the measuring cups...so she scooped up some more and eventually the measuring cups were filled, leveled off and dumped into the bowl.
Pouring vanilla into a teaspoon is difficult, too, since it's hard to tell when the teaspoon is actually full to the brim. So our cookies ended up with a little more vanilla than the recipe called for.
When it came time for the above mentioned scooping flour into the butter/sugar/egg bowl on the mixer that required so much concentration...to make sure it all got IN the bowl and not accidentally on the counter, that's when the cooking-making tears welled up in my eyes.
These tears were not ones of sadness over the spills and messes. Instead they were tears of joy in watching my sweet girl learn and do the simple task of making cookies...which we were told as a baby she would probably not have the ability to do.
Eventually the chocolate chips got mixed in, we ate more raw cookie dough than we should have and some of the dough actually made it onto the pan and into the oven.
The cookies are done now.
And you know what?
They. are. delicious!
Best chocolate chip cookies I've had in a long time.
I think it's because they were made by a glitter-faced little nine-year old who is way sweeter than the sugar that got spilled on the counter :)
Wishing you a peaceFULLYsimple day.
peace.
jeanine
Monday, August 19, 2013
SUMMER 2013
I just realized I haven't written on this site for several months.
Funny how summer arrives and we take a break from what goes on during the other three seasons of the year.
Summer 2013 has been great.
Not too busy...not too dull.
"Manageable choas" is what I like to call it.
June and August found us at the local pool for swimming lessons for Faith. She loves to swim. She's a good swimmer (like her daddy). She glides beautifully and gracefully through the water...although sometimes she belly-flops her dives, but even those have improved significantly.
June also found Parker on a week-long mission trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin, with our church youth group. As always he.had.a.blast! He came missing his little sister more than me and Scott and exhausted but fulfilled from being the hands and feet of Jesus.
July was pretty much the busiest month for us. We have friends that stay with us every 4th of July. We look forward to this holiday almost more than Christmas and Easter. Our two families have a great time together and the our kids think of their kids more like cousins. We went to a Minnesota Twins game on July 3 that included beautiful fireworks after the game was over. We enjoyed our house filled with four adults, three teenagers, a tweenie-bopper and four dogs ranging in size from 60+ pounds down to 5 pounds. We enjoyed another Twins game later in the month with family. Our Saturdays consisted of "Adventures" to wherever we decided to go that day...movies, waterfalls, requested favorite restaurants, mini-golf, school supply shopping...pretty much did whatever our little old hearts desired.
Faith found out her 4th grade teacher today. She has had her fingers crossed for a particular teacher since the first day of summer and today she found out she got this teacher! She is so excited! Parker had the same teacher for 4th grade so I know we're in for a great year! After finishing up classroom driver's ed the last week in July and first week of August, Parker has now moved on to football practice. He's a freshman this year and the two-a-day practices that started last week have taken a little getting used to...but he loves it! He comes home sweaty and stinky and tired and always with a funny story to share and a smile on his face. Freshman orientation is next week as well as school open houses.
It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it's mid-August and school starts in two weeks. TWO! In the past week I've talked to moms who are counting the days and minutes until their kids are back in school. I am not one of those moms. I've talked to more moms, however, who say they're not ready for summer to end yet and for their kids to be gone all day. I am one of those moms.
Soon my mornings will be filled with packing lunches, making sure backpacks are filled with completed homework, feeding sleepy children breakfast and driving them off to school for the day. Evenings will consist of football practices and games, piano lessons, homework, and back-to-school routine.
All good stuff.
But for now...we'll do our best to make the most of the remaining summer...playing with friends, children sleeping in late when they can and hangin' on the porch with a glass of wine (me...not the kids).
Wishing you a peaceFULLYsimple day.
peace.
jeanine
Funny how summer arrives and we take a break from what goes on during the other three seasons of the year.
Summer 2013 has been great.
Not too busy...not too dull.
"Manageable choas" is what I like to call it.
June and August found us at the local pool for swimming lessons for Faith. She loves to swim. She's a good swimmer (like her daddy). She glides beautifully and gracefully through the water...although sometimes she belly-flops her dives, but even those have improved significantly.
June also found Parker on a week-long mission trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin, with our church youth group. As always he.had.a.blast! He came missing his little sister more than me and Scott and exhausted but fulfilled from being the hands and feet of Jesus.
July was pretty much the busiest month for us. We have friends that stay with us every 4th of July. We look forward to this holiday almost more than Christmas and Easter. Our two families have a great time together and the our kids think of their kids more like cousins. We went to a Minnesota Twins game on July 3 that included beautiful fireworks after the game was over. We enjoyed our house filled with four adults, three teenagers, a tweenie-bopper and four dogs ranging in size from 60+ pounds down to 5 pounds. We enjoyed another Twins game later in the month with family. Our Saturdays consisted of "Adventures" to wherever we decided to go that day...movies, waterfalls, requested favorite restaurants, mini-golf, school supply shopping...pretty much did whatever our little old hearts desired.
Faith found out her 4th grade teacher today. She has had her fingers crossed for a particular teacher since the first day of summer and today she found out she got this teacher! She is so excited! Parker had the same teacher for 4th grade so I know we're in for a great year! After finishing up classroom driver's ed the last week in July and first week of August, Parker has now moved on to football practice. He's a freshman this year and the two-a-day practices that started last week have taken a little getting used to...but he loves it! He comes home sweaty and stinky and tired and always with a funny story to share and a smile on his face. Freshman orientation is next week as well as school open houses.
It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it's mid-August and school starts in two weeks. TWO! In the past week I've talked to moms who are counting the days and minutes until their kids are back in school. I am not one of those moms. I've talked to more moms, however, who say they're not ready for summer to end yet and for their kids to be gone all day. I am one of those moms.
Soon my mornings will be filled with packing lunches, making sure backpacks are filled with completed homework, feeding sleepy children breakfast and driving them off to school for the day. Evenings will consist of football practices and games, piano lessons, homework, and back-to-school routine.
All good stuff.
But for now...we'll do our best to make the most of the remaining summer...playing with friends, children sleeping in late when they can and hangin' on the porch with a glass of wine (me...not the kids).
Wishing you a peaceFULLYsimple day.
peace.
jeanine
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)